Algorithms are increasingly shaping your life: telling you what to buy, where to go, what news to believe, or what songs to listen to. The world is folding around you tailored and targeted, seamless and frictionless, based on statistics and data. But, this frictionlessness comes with obedience. To the machine, the market and to our prophesy. Do you want to stay oblivious to what else is out there, or break through the algorithmic walls? Allow the unexpected? Enjoy doubt? Have an unknown future.
Mapping the Oblivion (2024) is a series of works by Julia Janssen researching the relationship between living frictionless and the right to be forgotten. This installation is the first of the series, in which Janssen illustrates how we increasingly live within the margins of algorithms by portraying herself, her father and her grandmother through the lens of Netflix recommendation models. When opening Netflix, you get to see about 5% of all available content, rated from 55% to 99% probability you will enjoy it at that specific moment. The three maps show the same background but different recommendation algorithms due to the placement of the flags. In the video work, Janssen gives some peeks into her family's personal space - questioning how data, AI, and recommendation models will affect their lives now and over time.